“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

There are two general attitudes among urbanists towards the transportation omnibus bill that Congress has been struggling to pass in recent years (?). Some, like Streetsblogs and a number of political advocacy groups, hope for swift passage because of the bill's transit spending. Others, like Cap'n … [Read more...]

Pretty interesting article in the NYT today about the Gotham West development that recently broke ground on Manhattan‘s far west side. But I think the part about affordable housing could use some context:
But the bulk of the project will be affordable units, 682 of them, or more than half the … [Read more...]

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks London’s Shard skyscraper (shameless article-I-wrote-about-London-skyscrapers plug) looks like Pyongyang’s Ryugyong Hotel. Koryo Tours, the only tour group that offers westerners package to North Korea, plays up the similarities on its … [Read more...]

There’s been a lot of handwringing by American lefties over the austerity plans that Germany is asking indebted eurozone governments like Italy and Greece to implement in exchange for bailouts, but many aspects of the plans – especially labor market deregulation – are long overdue no matter … [Read more...]

Scrapping viaducts like this would make California HSR cheaper, faster to build, and easier to maintain, without a loss in quality
The recent peer review report recommending that California delay construction on the first segment of its high-speed rail project has caused a bit of consternation in … [Read more...]

Enormous viaducts like this are one reason for the project's ballooning cost estimates
Well, the other shoe has finally dropped: the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group is recommending that the state legislature not authorize the issue of $2.7 billion in bonds to begin paying for the … [Read more...]

Cornell-Technion has released another “fly-over” video, this one focused on the interior. But it does shed a bit more light on what the development will look like from the ground, and it ain’t pretty – the campus will be laid out in a fairly Corbusian plan, replete with lots of … [Read more...]

Stanford's (losing) vision for Roosevelt Island, with requisite acres of green
Big news out of New York City: Stanford pulled out of Bloomberg’s applied sciences university “competition” after Cornell got an enormous donation, leaving the upstate university the front runner to … [Read more...]